Elizabeth's Jaw Distraction

Since we are nearing the end of Elizabeth jaw distraction process, I thought it was high time to do an update!

Elizabeth had her surgery on March 22nd and was released from the hospital less than 24 hours later on March 23rd.

 Here is our beauty right before leaving for the hospital.

she's all checked in and waiting for surgery -in pre-op, they have several portable DVD players with a GIANT assortment of movies they can watch while they wait!

Before surgery we had her go to the bathroom (just down the hall from her room)..as we were coming out her surgeon was walking towards our room. 
The surgeon (a mom of 2 young boys herself) bent down and said with a huge smile, "Elizabeth!  Come here sweetie!"...her arms were open wide ~in which Elizabeth skipped down the hall, into her surgeon's arms for a big hug.

We LOVE Elizabeth's surgeon!  Not only is she brialliant and skilled, but she is absolutely amazing with our little girl!  It made it much easier to leave her in her surgeon's hands (literally!), knowing what a wonderful lady she is.

 Off she goes -being wheeled off to surgery!

During her surgery, John and I grabbed a quick lunch in the cafeteria and then headed back to the waiting room.

Surgery was supposed to take, at the most, 2 hours....it took about 2 1/2 hours -we later found out there was significant scar tissue (from the rare infection she incurred from her surgery last year) and it took the surgeon much longer than she expected to cut thru all those layers.

Because Elizabeth basically had bone surgery, they had to put her "deep" under in anesthesia -apparently the deeper the anesthesia, the tougher it is to come out.

Watching our little girl wake up was awful.
In order to verify she had't severed any nerves, the surgeon needed Elizabeth to wake up without ANY pain meds on board.

You simply cannot imagine how hard that was to watch...even though it was really just about 60 seconds.

As soon as the surgeon verfied all was OK -she immediately instructed the nurse to get the pain meds on board.

It took 2 doses of morphine to get our baby comfortable.

They allowed me to hold her as she came to, which was so very sweet of the nurses. They said that even though the kiddos aren't really awake or coherent, they instinctively know mom or dad is holding them and it tends to calm them.

We think it did help Elizabeth...but more than anything, it helped ME! 

 It took them about 2 hours to find a room for us, but once they did, they moved us right away and Elizabeth was able to order a "soft diet" dinner.  I think she had jello, pudding, and mashed potatoes. :)

She did AMAZINGLY well once she came out of anesthesia. Rarely complaining of pain and sleeping thru the night save for the few times the nurses had to come in to check vitals and change IV's.

The surgeon checked on us around 9am on the 23rd and declared Elizabeth ready to head home!

 Here we are -in the lobby of the hospital waiting for daddy to fill the RX's for home!

 the kids were wonderful with Elizabeth....hanging out with her and helping her "lay low" those first few days home.

 Just 4 days post -op...sunning herself by the pool.

I'd say that is a pretty good recovery! 
We were told to expect 10-14 days of terrible pain....she complained of pain 2-3 times..that's it.

Only God could have worked such a miracle for our girl!

 playing in the dirt at an outdoor restaurant -again, just 4 days post-op!

 Here is our girl on April 18th -about 2 1/2 weeks into the jaw distraction.
You can see the 2-3 inch metal rod hanging from her jaw...this device is what we used to turn the rod connected to the metal plates in her jaw.

The hanging part of the metal rod was removed on April 25th -her jaw had "grown" 29 millimeters!

That doesn't sound like much -but the difference was so noticeable on xrays as well as in person....her lower jaw is now completely level!

Rubber bands are now pulling her upper jaw down to meet with the lower jaw as well as rubber bands are pulling the jaws into aligment.

It's just amazing what the medical world can do!!!

Here she is on Easter!

We have one more major step to go....another surgery.  This surgery is to remove the metal plates holding her jaw bone open as well as the metal rod the plates are attached to.  This surgery is slated for June 28th ~as long as the bone has sufficiently solidified and is ready for the plates to be removed.  As long as the surgery goes smoothly, she will not have to stay the night at the hospital....she should recover a few hours at the hospital and then be sent home that very afternoon!